


Confessions

by turtleeden



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Love Confessions, this is the fluffiest shit i ever wrote what the hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 10:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11988312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtleeden/pseuds/turtleeden
Summary: Rank 9 and the Aftermath. Ann has no idea what just happened, though it's taking a bit for her to absorb that she just poured her heart out in more ways that she ever expected. Still, everything's out in the open now.





	Confessions

She sits on one of the leftover desks on the rooftop, the same spot where it was their very first hideout. She doesn’t say anything at the moment, but she figured that if she even tried to speak right now, she’ll turn into a babbling mess. Her hands are clasped together, pressing against her glossed lips as if she was in deep thought. Her cheeks are tinged pink, a great contrast to how bright red she was a moment ago. And her face felt so hot she felt like she was going to combust into flames at any given moment. Ann couldn’t help the butterflies in her stomach, fluttering about in midst of both of her embarrassment and her giddiness. As she sits there in that familiar spot on the roof, she wrestles with the realization that she just entered unfamiliar territory that she can’t turn back from.

And all that she could clearly think of was this one question: 

_What the hell just happened?_

\-------

Tears were still falling from her face, but she wasn’t crying anymore.

She stands there frozen, letting the last of her tears fall down her cheeks. Warmth envelops her in the form of two strong arms wrapping her in a comforting hug. She feels so safe in these arms… maybe that was why she stopped crying. 

For a minute, she thought she was going to be alone again now that Shiho was transferring schools. She’s grown and experienced too much with the others to know that wasn’t true, and normally she knows this. But all of that wasn’t the same as saying goodbye to your best friend for years, even when you know that this was a good thing for her. And Ann couldn’t help but revert to that mindset of that little girl going away and starting all over again… alone. Even when she tries not to cry and set herself straight, the tears wouldn’t stop coming. She just couldn’t stop it.

But she managed to hear a single voice whisper in her ear, breaking through her sadness and completely stopping her in her tracks. Those three words sounded like a promise, and it stuns her that she actually realized that he really, truly meant it.

“You have me.”

...she always did have him, didn’t she?

“Akira…”

In her moment of silence, memories of him flashes through her mind at high speed. She remembers when he pursued her in the train station and tried to calm her down. She remembers that he actually listened to her predicament with Kamoshida with open ears. She remembers that before she awakened to her Persona, that out of everyone that was there and everything that she could hear -- Ryuji, Morgana, Shadow Kamoshida’s taunts, and even her own crushing self-doubt -- she heard his voice the loudest. ( _Don’t let him win. Oh, that was the kick she needed. Like hell she was ever going to let that happen._ ) After that whole incident, it was clear as day that he was someone she could count on.

He’s her friend.

“Akira…”

Getting to know him was the real fun part though, despite her dragging him up and down all of Shibuya and beyond whenever they spend time together. He can be such a tease sometimes, them training at the park for strengthening their hearts immediately came to mind. He’s such a dork too, with lame puns and little quips for days. He can be silly, but he can also be such a gentleman too. That side of him surprised her sometimes, she couldn’t think of anyone else opening doors for people and walking them to the station when it gets late in the day. 

And sure, he can be reckless. He can be such a showoff sometimes, and he has a bad habit of neglecting himself despite watching out for everyone else. But he’s also very reliable and most importantly, he’s true to himself.

He’s such a good person.

“...”

She doesn’t know when this happened, or how she was beginning to think this way, but in a way, it was like her brain was finally catching up to her heart. It showed whenever Ann spoke of him in conversation, how effortlessly she can talk about his good, bad and all-around points without thinking. It showed whenever her face lights up when he asks if they could hang out together, and when she starts wondering when the next time was going to be until they’re together again. It showed when no matter what the conversation was, she felt so comfortable, so _safe_ , talking to him about it. It shows when whenever he’s within her line of sight, she smiles. That’s all normal when you were thinking about a friend, right? 

...right?

But as Ann stood there frozen and lost in her own mind, all of the memories and all of her inner thoughts all melded together into something that made it all make sense. It brought light to the truth that was always there in her actions and within her own heart, but it finally clicked in her head. It almost made her want to cry again, but for a different reason than when she broke down before. With her eyes shimmering as she stares into space, there was a single thought in her mind that settled and became so clear it was almost scary… but she was certain about it.

_Akira.... Akira.... Akira...._

“...I love you.”

...wait a minute.

Back up, did she just say what she think she said!?

She finally moves, but it’s in her panic as she forcefully pulls herself away from him. “Wait, what did I just say?!” she exclaims in her panic. She definitely isn’t crying anymore, but she can feel her cheeks heat up in her embarrassment. Okay… she needed to calm down. She barely spoke above a whisper, so maybe he didn’t hear her say it. Then again… if he didn’t hear that, then he needed to pay attention more! _‘This is no time to be playing the space case, Akira! This is a matter of the heart!’_ she couldn’t help but think to herself in her embarrassed outrage. But it’s what Akira responded with that sends her further into panic.

“You said ‘I love you.’”

Oh god, he DID hear her!

“I-I said WHAT!?” she shrieked. Ann felt like she was falling deep into a rabbit hole with no signs of stopping. Her cheeks were no doubt bright red by now, and she wanted to crawl into the biggest hole that she could find. _‘Oh my god, I’m gonna die…’_ she lamented. _‘I just basically confessed to Akira without thinking…’_ Ann couldn’t help but reprimand herself in her head. Why did she say that? Why did she just blurt that out!? Talk about bad timing! She went from crying her eyes out over her best friend to confessing her love to the boy she liked without so much as a thought! Who does that?! Oh man, if this screws up their friendship, Ann was going to feel a lot worse than she does right now.

“I…” She couldn’t find the words to explain herself. Akira was probably expecting some sort of answer to that too… but she couldn’t think of anything. She loves him, that was true. She loves him a lot… so much that she felt as if her heart was going to explode. It was beating so fast she didn’t know what to do with it. She just didn’t think that she would admit it to herself, much less to **him** , now of all times. But Ann figured that there was no point trying to cover her tracks. She said it, and he heard it. All she had to do now was own it. She had to stand her ground, suck up her embarrassment and say it loud and clear!

“I mean… yeah, I said it!”

Oh god, she could see him sweat. But Ann was determined not to give in. She looked him straight in the eye, put her hand on top of her heart and put herself on the line. “And I meant it too!” She had to declare it for his ears alone, and... Hell, the entire world can know it too for all she cared! Ann built up all the courage that she could muster, and made her definitive declaration of love. “I really love you! Like, REALLY really!”

She practically yelled it from the rooftop.

Ann is panting as if she just ran a marathon. Her heart ached, her pride was shot to hell, and she was so embarrassed that she screamed it for all of Tokyo to hear. And yet… she looks up at Akira expectantly, awaiting his response. _‘Say something!’_ her eyes seemed to say. _‘Don’t leave me hanging when I just poured my heart out to you!’_ From what she could see, Akira himself looked stunned, almost taken aback. She was about to expect the worst, but then Ann saw his expression softening. His expression changed from shock to fondness, and he had the warmest smile on his face, warmer than any other time that Ann’s seen him smile. It made her heart jump. What she didn’t expect though, was Akira walking up to her like he did before and hugging her tightly.

Oh god.

_Oh god, this was actually happening._

“H-Hey! Wait a -- !!” she exclaims as she was being wrapped in his arms. She could feel a gentle press on her back that pushes her closer to him, closer than she has ever been before as his friend. She hangs on to him for dear life, feeling the sweat beading on her forehead. God… she could smell the scent of coffee beans on his clothes, more poignant than it’s ever been before from a distance. She could feel his heart beating from his chest, going about as fast as hers has been going for the past several minutes. She could even hear him breathing, short pants that made it seem like he was breathless. ( _He’s nervous too._ ) Even in her embarrassment, Ann has never felt so comfortable as she was right now in Akira’s arms. She clutches to the fabric of his clothes tightly, and sighs to herself.

She doesn’t want this to end.

“I-I guess we’re more than just friends now…” she admitted. As if that wasn’t already obvious. “This is so embarrassing…” Embarrassing, yes. But it felt right… god, it feels so right just being like this. She just wants it to be like this… forever. Thinking about it now, they could have more moments like this since everything was now in the open… wait. They didn’t even make it official yet! Are they even going to make it official?! Ann’s mind is whirring again, and once again, she panics. Akira’s arms suddenly felt… really, _really_ tight.

“Hey! Lemme go!” she cries, forcefully pulling herself away from Akira again. She covers her mouth in her embarrassment, realizing that she’s yelling again. And yet she couldn’t help but hold on to his shoulder for security. “Are you trying to kill me?!”

God, she could hear him laughing.

\--------

...yeah. That’s what happened.

She said she loves him.

She just confessed her love to Akira without thinking. Well, technically, it was them confessing their love to _each other_. Once she had put it that way, that was the part that had Ann tripping over her words the most and made her so speechless. It was the fact that Akira had actually loved her back. The butterflies in her stomach were flying around with a vengeance again. She loves him. And he loves her. He actually loves her back! The mere thought of that just makes her all giddy inside. It was a very strange and foreign feeling… was this what it’s like to be in love?

“...Ann?”

Ann raises her head at the sound of Akira’s voice, and she turns her head towards him. He was at the other side of the makeshift table sitting across from her, waiting until she had calmed down. Ann winced a little, realizing that she had essentially left him in the midst of an awkward silence between them. After all, she hasn’t said anything since they went over to their old corner to cool off.

“Sorry… I’m okay. Don’t worry.” she replies with a small smile. Although now she felt that things are especially awkward… she didn’t know what to do next. Contrary to popular belief, she’s never actually had a boyfriend before. Then again, she’s never had to confess anything like that before, so she’s just flying blind. Ann makes a nervous hum, looking back and forth from Akira to her own shaking hands. Sometimes she could barely look at Akira at all, especially since she knows that his eyes never left her. She runs a hand down one of her pigtails as an attempt to calm herself down, and attempted to speak.

“S-So, uh… what do we do now?”

Akira shrugged a little, his fingers idly drumming against the surface of the table. “...I don’t know.” he admitted. “I mean, I've never done this before, so…”

“Y-Yeah… me neither.” Ann replied, letting out a nervous laugh. After they were silent for another few minutes, Ann decides to speak up again. “Though I’m pretty surprised. You look as nervous as I am.”

“Surprised, huh?” Akira let out a dry laugh as he leans his back against the wall behind him. “I guess… I surprise even myself. I have no idea on where to go from here. Even so, when I saw you crying… I couldn’t just ignore you.”

“...you said that before too.” Ann said, her smile growing wider.

“What? When?”

“At the diner. You know… after that whole thing with Kamoshida?” It was weird how she could look back at such a vulnerable moment in her life with such fondness in her eyes right now. “Back then, I asked you why you were so willing to help me. And you said that as an answer.”

Akira formed a smile then. “...you remember that?”

“Of course!” Ann confirmed, nodding. “I could never forget something like that, y’know? And even back when I first told you about what was going on... I realized then that you weren’t so bad. I mean, I had a feeling it was all just exaggerated rumor, but I didn’t really act like it then. I was… pretty awful to you at the start. And then you had to go and be so kind…” Ann propped her arms against the table’s surface then, giving Akira her proper attention. “...we came a long way, didn’t we? Now look at us.”

“We’re a mess.” Akira responded with a laugh.

“You got that right!” Ann giggled at that. “Man, we’ve spent all of our time stealing hearts as Phantom Thieves… how’d you end up stealing my heart too?”

“To be fair…” Akira started, with a way-too-smug grin on his face. “You stole mine first.”

“W-What? No.” Ann denied, pouting. “When did that happen?”

“When we first met. Do you remember, Ann?”

When they first met… Technically, they first spoke in their classroom when Akira was extremely late for school. Well... it wasn't exactly a friendly chat. It was more like Ann was suspicious of him because she knew he was lying about how he was late. She _did_ see him at the station after all. But when they first met, however... it was much earlier than that. Ann remembered being caught in the rain, and she remembered that she hitched a ride with Kamoshida to go to school, something that she wasn’t proud of by any means. But before his car drove up the curb though, someone else was already there under a store canopy with her trying to get away from the rain.

Akira.

“I remember thinking how beautiful you were, I’ll admit it. But that wasn’t the reason why you were stuck on my mind… you smiled at me. Since I came to Tokyo… you were the first person to smile at me. We didn’t know each other then, but that hit me harder than I ever expected. Just like that, I had a little crush.”

She had no idea. “Akira…”

“But then I got to know you, Ann. I got to see how passionate you are about your friends. How driven you can be once you put your mind to something. I got to see your carefree side, be taken in by your infectious energy. I’ve seen you at your lowest point, and I’m one of the lucky bastards to see you rise above it. I’ve seen and experienced your kindness and your empathy time and time again. And no matter how good or how bad you are at something, you always go out of your way to give it your all. You give yourself too little credit sometimes, but you’re a beautiful person, Ann. Inside and out. I’m proud to call you a friend, but I couldn’t help but fall in love with you down the line.”

He was going to make her cry again. Ann couldn’t help but feel tears of happiness welling up inside of her this time. Sensing this, Akira reached his arm over to rest his hand on top of one of hers, and smiled warmly.

“I know neither of us expected it to go down like this, but please know that I meant what I said before. You have me, Ann. You’ll always have me. I may not be a perfect guy, and maybe I won’t always do the right thing all the time. But know that you’ll always have me on your side, no matter what comes our way. I love you, Ann Takamaki. And I’ll spend every moment proving just that if you’ll have me.”

It was then that their eyes met, and Ann could feel Akira squeezing her hand gently. Akira was blushing himself, which was a sight that she doesn’t often see. His wasn’t as red as hers have been, but it’s clearly there. This almost reminds her of a romantic cliche in almost every romantic story, where two lovers could tell what the other is saying from gazing into their eyes. Ann didn’t think that she’d be experiencing that for herself, but she could see it in his gray eyes, clear as day: 

_‘I love you. I love you. You mean everything to me.’_

“So, with that in mind…” Akira starts, before taking a breath to collect himself. She could see that he was really nervous. “...will you be my girl?”

She’s crying again… Ann felt like her eyes were going to go red from all of the crying that she’s done today, but at the moment she didn’t care. Though she was crying, Ann was beaming from ear to ear. She felt so happy that she didn’t know what to do with herself. “Yes…” she breathes, before rising up from her spot. Wasting no time, Ann excitedly crawls across the makeshift tables just so she could capture Akira in a tight hug, one which Akira happily obliges. “Yes, I will! I will!” she chimes, practically kicking her feet in the air.

They were boyfriend and girlfriend now. It’s official.

If this was all a dream, then don’t wake her up. She was over the moon right now! She now has an amazing guy for a boyfriend. Someone that actually loves her for not how she looked, but for who she was. There was no way that Ann figured that this was how today was going to go, but she no longer cared about that. She’s now crying and laughing all at once while embracing the boy she loves, and she couldn’t be any happier for it.

“Oh, I just remembered! Are we gonna break the news to everyone else?” she asked, pulling away slightly. Oh, she can just imagine Ryuji teasing the living daylights out of both of them if he knew about this new development.

“Do you want to?” Akira asked her, with a curious look in his eye. Ann hums in thought as she felt Akira wipe away the tears staining her face. ( _She must look like a disaster right now, and yet he’s looking at her as if she’s the most beautiful thing in the world._ ) Before long, she settles in on an answer.

“Honestly? They can figure it out for themselves.” She smiles to herself as she properly adjusts, now sitting on the edge of the table instead of sitting up on all fours in her haste to embrace Akira. She sniffs a bit, a leftover present from her last crying fit, before continuing. “We’ll tell them somewhere down the line. But for now… I wanna be a little selfish. I just want you all to myself, Akira… is that bad?”

Oh no… she can see him smirking. That catlike smirk of his was going to be the end of her, she can feel it. “Hey, you’ll get no objections from me.” he responds, moving from his spot so that he could sit next to her. “Besides, I think I like that idea.”

“Oh, really?” she replies in a teasing tone, playing shoving his arm as an extra effect. “Guess we’d better get used to it, then.”

They were so close to each other right now… Ann was, understandably, emotionally spent after today, and yet she could still feel the butterflies in her stomach fluttering about. She looks down at her lap, with her hands and Akira’s so close to each other. Smiling dreamily, Ann reaches over to hold one of his hands into her own. He, in turn, took it gladly with a comforting squeeze. This was going to be a new normal for them, wasn’t it? She was still so nervous, and yet she was also so excited about this new relationship of hers. In the end, Ann knew that she was going to be okay through it all.

She had **him** by her side.

“Wanna head home together?” she asked, looking up at the changing sky. “We’ll probably get busted if we hang around the roof too long.”

Akira hummed in his approval, before bringing her hand up so that he could kiss the back of it. “After you.” he says with a grin.

Ann couldn’t help but blush all over again. Akira Kurusu was going to be the end of her.


End file.
